Roman Britain: Agricola & Caledonia (AD 77-85)

The Year of the Four Emperors – Defeat of the Ordovices – The Subjection of Anglesey – Administrative Successes – Agricola Invades Caledonia – Agricola in Ireland? – A Fleet Sails Around Britain – The Battle of Mons Graupius –Domitian’s Machinations

Four years after participating in the Battle of Watling Street against Boudica’s British army, Gnaeus Agricola was made quaestor (or head of law enforcement) in the Roman province of Asia (the remnants of the Seleucid Empire, which had been conquered by Rome in 190 BC). In AD 66 he was made Tribune of the Plebs; during the days of the Roman Republic, this office—the highest available to plebians, or “commoners”, in contrast to the aristocratic patricians—served as a check against the patrician Senate and magistrates. During imperial Rome, the tribune’s duties were taken over by the emperor, and it was a title of status more than anything else. Two years later, in AD 68, he was made praetor (a court judge), and he supported Vespasian (a hero of Claudius’ invasion of Britain 25 years earlier) in his bid for the throne during the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69). Vespasian appointed him the governor of Gallia Aquitania (part of modern France), and in AD 77 Agricola was sent to govern Roman Britain.

The Squashing of the Ordovices

The relative peace won by the defeat of Boudica’s rebellion was brought low during the Year of the Four Emperors. Dissent amongst the legions, each vying for a particular candidate, spread across the Continent and trickled into Britain. The Roman governors couldn’t keep discipline among the legions, and Venutius of the Brigantes took advantage of Roman Britain’s weak state. Venutius wrested control of northern Roman Britain, and once things settled down in Rome, the Roman governors were able to regain control of the legions. The two governors preceding Agricola turned their forces against the Brigantes and Silures. The second governor, Frontinus, expanded Roman rule to all of South Wales. When Agricola arrived in Britain in AD 77, he received news that the British tribe of the Ordovices, in North Wales, had all but wiped out the Roman cavalry stationed in their territory. Agricola moved immediately against the Ordovices and put them in their place. He then turned his attention to Anglesey, the Druid stronghold that had been ravaged by Paulinus but which had yet to be subjected to Roman rule (Paulinus had to abandon his endeavors there to deal with Boudica’s uprising). Agricola finished what Paulinus had started and brought Anglesey under Roman rule in AD 78.

While Agricola is known for his militant exploits (of which the subjugation of the Ordovices and Anglesey were but the beginning), he was an all-around excellent governor. He reformed the corrupt corn levy, introduced Roman measures, encouraged building towns on the Roman model, and advocated the Roman education of the sons of native nobility. He catered to the British nobility, bringing them into the Roman fold as a means of extending Roman control not merely by the sword but by culture and material trappings, as well. These administrative successes were complemented by further military successes, and his victories would make him a hero in Roman eyes. His renown would become so great that even an emperor felt threatened by him. Agricola is best known for extending Roman control into Caledonia (modern Scotland) and whooping the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius.

A pair of Roman triremes

In AD 79 Agricola pushed his Roman forces to the estuary of the Taus River (the Firth of Tay) and built a number of forts before pulling back to the British interior. He wouldn’t push farther into Caledonia until AD 82, but in the meantime he made one (or two) major accomplishments. The first is that he ordered his fleet to circle the island of Britain, confirming for posterity what had been assumed, that Britain was, indeed, an island. The second accomplishment is a possible invasion of Ireland. In AD 81, according to Tacitus, Agricola “crossed in the first ship” and defeated peoples heretofore unknown to the Romans. The body of water he crossed is unknown; it may have been the Clyde or the Forth. We do know that Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and he said that Ireland could be conquered with a single legion and supporting auxiliaries. Agricola had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped could be used as a pawn for the conquest of Ireland, but the conquest never happened—he would eventually be compelled to push farther into Caledonia. Thus Tacitus might refer to a small-scale exploratory raid into Ireland. Bolstering this theory is the Irish legend of a legendary High King who was exiled from Ireland as a boy only to return from Britain at the head of an army to claim the throne. Traditional dating of his return is sometime between AD 76-80, and archaeology has found Roman or Romano-British artifacts in several sites associated with the High King. Thus Agricola may indeed have used the Irish king as a pawn in a gamble to take Ireland, but halfway into the expedition events on the Caledonian border may have compelled him to return.

Aftermath of the Night Attack

The event prompting Agricola to push deeper into Caledonia was a night attack on one of the Ninth Legion’s border forts. The Caledonians assaulted the camp, and all would have been lost had Agricola’s cavalry not launched into the melee. The Caledonians retreated, and Agricola responded to their incursion with an incursion of his own. In the summer of AD 83, Agricola marched his forces into Caledonian territory, laying waste to their granaries. With their supplies threatened, the Caledonians were forced to confront the Romans at what would come to be known as the Battle of Mons Graupius.

On the Eve of Mons Graupius

The Caledonian forces, led by Calgacus, a chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy, positioned themselves on a hill, giving them the advantage of higher ground. Tacitus puts their numbers around 30,000 and reports that their first line was situated on the flat ground at the foot of the slope. The further ranks were positioned in tiers up the hill in a horseshoe formation, and Calgacus’ chariots charged back-and-forth on the level ground in front of the first line. Agricola had encamped close to the hill, and he left his legionaries at the camp as a reserve. He positioned his auxiliary infantry—composed of two Bavarian cohorts and two cohorts of Tungrian swordsmen—in the center of his life; 3000 Roman cavalry were placed on the auxiliaries’ flanks. His forces, including the legionaries in reserve, amounted to somewhere between 17,000 and 30,000 men. After an exchange of missiles, Agricola ordered the auxiliaries to advance. They cut through the front ranks of the Caledonians, prompting an uphill rout. The higher ranks attempted to outflank the Roman auxiliaries, but they in turn were outflanked by the Roman cavalry. This was too much to face, and the Caledonians broke en masse and fled into the nearby woodlands. The Roman forces hunted them into the woodlands, but here the Caledonians were able to dissipate, and they fought small guerrilla skirmishes against the hunting Romans, giving their comrades a window of time to escape. By nightfall the hunt was over, and come morning the Roman scouts had lost all traces of Calgacus’ army. Tacitus reports that 10,000 Caledonians died at a cost of 300 auxiliary troops, but this is undoubtedly an exaggeration.

The Roman victory at Mons Graupius was hailed as the final battle in the subjection of Britain. Agricola became a hero in Roman eyes, and when a new emperor, Domitian, took the throne (after Titus, Vespasian’s son), he had Agricola recalled to Rome (AD 85)—perhaps because he feared Agricola’s exploits would bring him glory he wanted for himself. Domitian didn’t want the competition. Agricola was praised by Domitian, a mere publicity stunt, and Domitian proposed making him governor of the provincial backwater of Africa. Agricola declined, either because of poor health or (as Tacitus claims), the machinations of Domitian. Whatever the cause, Agricola was forced out of the limelight and lived the rest of his life without holding any civil or military posts. Agricola died in AD 93; rumors spread that Domitian had him poisoned.